I just watched the first season of Samurai Champloo in Japanese and I gotta say I've become a huge fan of Shinichiro Watanabe. It stands alongside Cowboy Bebop as the best Anime I've ever seen. I've just never been a fan of all the freaky, nasty, bizarre anime I usually see in the main stream. The shows that are just basically commercials for those Role Playing card games (Pokemon, Dragonball Z) never really got my attention, either. Talk about filling a half-hour with no substance at all, yawn. And stuff like Inuyasha just doesn't appeal to me. I just can't get past the dog ears. I did like Lupin III, but the artwork in the Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop series are far better and the characters are much more intruiging. The episodes are just hella creative, too. I mean a whole episode about a year-old lobster left in a refrigerator that ends up sickening everybody... That was hilarious. I also can't think of a favorite character from either series because all of the main characters are so well developed. Ed from Cowboy Bebop comes closest to being a favorite, I guess. She just cracks me up. From what I've seen of Watanabe's stuff, it's exciting and doesn't have so much gore like there is on the other shows. It's also funny as hell. Anyway, I just think Samurai Champloo is great and I'm looking forward to checking out Season II. I also wanna see the first season of Cowboy Bebop, but I haven't been able to find it anywhere. I feel like I have discovered REAL Japanese ART. The other stuff is just for kids and sick pervs. Feel free to make any comments....

I steadfastly disagree. Lupin is good, but Champloo (at least in Japanese) is better for these three reasons: artwork, character development, and humor. The artwork in Champloo is much more colorful and sucks you in right away. All three main characters are incredible, while in Lupin there just doesn't seem to be as much care spent on actually developing the characters, their interactions and their motivations. And lastly, I never laughed out loud in Lupin but I laugh out loud at least once in each episode of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. What I want to know is what else is out there of this type. I think Lupin is closest to this that I've seen so far, but what else is out there?

Bebop made me chuckle and had great music.
Champloo makes me chuckle.
FLCL make me bust a gut and had great music.
Trigun has it's moments.
Lupin gets a chuckle.
GITS-SAC's tachikomas get a chuckle and had decent music.
Slayers was hilarious, but it's been a while so that may be 懐かしい.
Miyazaki's anything usually brings tears.

Just watched the second DVD of Samurai Champloo. All I can say is "hilarious!" Japan as a gay man's paradise? Oh man, that cracked me up! In case you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the episode called "Stranger Searching." It starts with an eating contest and then evolves into an argument of why bushido is the ideal "alternate lifestyle." Oh, man. That definitely got more than a chuckle out of me.

i just got every episode of samurai champloo whatced trough.. few last episodes were so SAD, cuz of Fuu's toughts.. i allmost started to cry when i tought that my fav char died (Mugen!!!).. And i was happy cuz Jin survived hes last attack.. i just love every episode !! That where Mugen learns to read rulz...

Yes! Samurai Champloo is incredible. I was already a fan of Watanabe because of Cowboy Bebop, but SC just confirms it! I've been trying to get my friend into anime, but she had a hard time finding one she liked. I finally showed her SC and she LOVED it!

Any more anime you guys know like this? I really hesitate buying anime because the first few I bought were things like "Castle in the Sky" and "Ghost in the Shell 2" and I didn't like them at all. Too weird/grotesque. "Appleseed" was ok. Great art, but some of the story I just didn't like.

i really like samurai champloo and cowboy bebop, not only because they had the same director, but also becaseu both featured a very interesting musical score. (albeit yoko kanno was not responsible for the one in champloo).

i am also looking for similar titles, so please don't hesitate to give advise ...
i have watched samurai 7, which was okay, but it did not have the spunk of samurai champloo.

is outlaw star similar to cowboy bebop? although outlaw is also a relatively old title, i was able to borrow a copy from a friend, and it had a lot of action ... so maybe it's just as good.

do i have to ask you guys which one you like, mugen or jin?
most of the people i've surveyed, including me, answered mugen ...

Champloo, Bebop, and for the guy who mentioned Lupin, they all are very good.

You HAVE to watch atleast champloo in japanese though...so different from english muchless on adult swim.

i have watched samurai 7, which was okay, but it did not have the spunk of samurai champloo.

Agreed, good artwork and CG, but sometimes it was a good show, sometimes it was boring...Champloo had me all the way until the end.

do i have to ask you guys which one you like, mugen or jin? most of the people i've surveyed, including me, answered mugen ...

Too hard to answer...I like both for seperate reasons....most like mugen because of his "i dont give a f*** attitude"

BTW, incase anyone hadn't noticed (sorry if this was mentioned) but the english voice cast for Mugen is the same as "Spike" in bebop....also the same guy does the voice of "Onizuke" in Great Teacher Onizuka

The dude goes by David Lucas and has been in a ridiculous amount of things from games to a lot of animes.

Any more anime you guys know like this? I really hesitate buying anime because the first few I bought were things like "Castle in the Sky" and "Ghost in the Shell 2" and I didn't like them at all. Too weird/grotesque. "Appleseed" was ok. Great art, but some of the story I just didn't like.

Appleseed looked good, but story was bland....I love both GITS movies...haven't seen castle in the sky

I guess I'm the only one who likes Jin better than Mugen. I don't know how the English version of Jin is, but the Japanese cracks me up. When he and Fuu-chan were being held at the Hakkone border point and he kept answering "Nnn," and then how inept he was at making unagi... Mugen gets more of the action, but honestly I think Jin could take him. But actually, my favorite character is Fuu. I watched the first episode again last night and it still cracks me up when the guard asks her for sex. When she slaps him in the face, says "dame!" and calls him baldy, I swear... Then when she's running with the fireworks in her kimono, when she cries "Usooo!" when Jin and Mugen conspire to ditch her, then after the eating competition when she's fat??? Oh man, that cracked me up. And don't say I'm easily amused because I really haven't found any anime I like as much as Watanabe's series. I did find that The Peacemaker has been a bit amusing, but it's definitely more for kids. Still good, but a bit silly.